This invention relates to apparatus and methods for the determination of the heat of reaction between two reactants and more particularly it relates to the determination of the heat of reaction due to the reaction of a flowing solution of a particular constituent through an enzyme column wherein the purpose is to determine the concentration of the constituent in the solution.
For the purposes of this description the word "reaction" includes changes which result from both chemical and physical processes and, therefore, the word "reactant" is used to refer to an agent which takes part in such a process.
There are many approaches to measuring the heat of reaction. These approaches include the classical calorimetric methods and various types of flow-through calorimeters. The prior art approaches to flow-through measurement of heat of reaction have, however, not been sufficiently stable or sensitive to small changes in heat of reaction, particularly with regard to measurements involving small concentrations. Likewise, the prior art approaches have been too sensitive to flow changes for precise measurement.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a construction for a flow-through thermal detector which provides increased sensitivity, accuracy, and flow independence for the determination of the heat of reaction as, for example, in measuring the concentration of a reactant in a flowing liquid by measuring the heat of reaction caused by the exposure of that reactant to an enzyme, particularly where the enzyme is coupled to an inert carrier such as fine glass beads maintained in a reactor column.